Turnout: 72.10%

Overview

Finland's parliamentary election of 14 April 2019 produced the tightest result in modern Finnish history. The Social Democrats (SDP) under Antti Rinne finished first with 17.73% and 40 seats — the party's first election victory since 1999 — just ahead of the Finns Party (17.48%, 39 seats) and the National Coalition Party (17.00%, 38 seats). The governing Centre Party collapsed from 49 to 31 seats. Turnout rose to 72.1%. Antti Rinne formed a five-party, centre-left coalition (SDP, Centre, Greens, Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party); after his resignation in December 2019 he was succeeded as prime minister by Sanna Marin, who at 34 became one of the world's youngest serving heads of government.

Electoral system

The 200-seat Eduskunta is elected by open-list proportional representation (d'Hondt) in 13 districts, with Åland electing one member. Voters select an individual candidate. There is no national threshold.

Key parties

The election was defined by the near-equal standing of four parties and by the strong showing of the Green League (20 seats) and Left Alliance (16). Climate policy and the future of social and health-care services dominated the campaign. The Finns Party, by then led by Jussi Halla-aho, narrowly missed first place.

Previous election

In 2015 the Centre Party had won 49 seats and Juha Sipilä led a centre-right government that fractured shortly before the 2019 vote over a failed health-care and regional-government reform.

Official data source

Statistics Finland (Tilastokeskus) and the Ministry of Justice election results service — stat.fi.